GwendaSelvana
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Welcome to the first chapter of "Journey to the North", a mystery dungeon adventure. This story and its characters have been on my mind for years, and I'm excited to finally share it all with you. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter One: The Dragon Voice
I don't know how much time has passed since I had a body. Years? Decades maybe? I've been trapped inside this horrible device, and time is meaningless here. Yet I am probably still alive, not a ghost but without corporeal form. Through the thin shell of the pokéball that caught me, I can feel that my friends are with me. They have always been with me, imprisoned in other balls, right beside mine.They're so close to me, and their presence is comforting. I wish I could reach out to them, but I have no mouth with which to talk. Sometimes the longing is overwhelming. Not just the longing to communicate, but the longing to really live again. To breathe fresh air, to see other colours than endless black, to be warmed by the sun. To fly high into the sky, wind blowing through my feathers. Maybe it all just was a dream. Everything is dull in here, even the pain, so at least I can dream.
"Excuse me?", I hear a faint voice from above and its gleeful tone surprises me, takes me off guard. I had almost forgotten how a cheerful voice sounds. My friends' pokéballs and my own are locked inside a stone chamber, and nobody knows we are trapped here, only a crumbling wall seperating us from the free creatures living their lives in the woods. Most Pokémon don't even dare to go near the unsettling sealed chamber. The forest dwellers are superstitious and fearful.And yet a lone Scyther lives right above my prison. He wasn't always here and I don't know how he really looks like, only how he looks in my imagination. But I can sometimes hear his scythes cutting into his sleeping tree as he climbs it, since he's apparently too old to fly. He also tends to mumble to himself, complaining about anything and everything. He is probably just too grumpy to believe in scary folk tales.
"What is it, snake?", Scyther's all too familiar, rough voice scoffs back at the gleeful stranger.
"I'm a tiny bit lost, Mister Scyther", the other Pokémon replies happily, apparently very unimpressed by the bug's hostility. I notice their draconic voice that sounds just a little like hissing. "Do you know where I can find a place called Pokémon Square?"
"Pokémon Square?", Scyther snorts. "You're more than 'a tiny bit lost', scaly girl. You're in the sinister woods. They're a mystery dungeon, so guess what? I can't give you any directions here."
"Wow, I've never been inside a mystery dungeon before!", the stranger says in awe. "But they're, like, ever-shifting labyrinths that defy the very laws of physics, right?" She chuckles. "Gosh, I have no idea how I even ended up here. That's so exciting!"
"Good for you?", Scyther says hesistantly, so confused about her enthusiasm that he forgets to be angry for a moment. "Well then, go looking for the next stairs, wherever they might be right now... and leave me alone."
"Oh hey, what's that?," the stranger, who probably hasn't been listening, asks.
"You mean that weathered old stone plate? Do I look like I care?"
"I dunno, maybe? I for one definitely care, it looks mysterious!"
The Scyther lets out a very exasperated sigh. "Listen, you stupid little Dratini. It's the entrance to an ancient underground chamber or something, and people say it's haunted. I'm pretty sure you should leave this place."
"One of my best friends is a ghost, I'm not afraid of them", Dratini says nonchalantly. "Plus -", she giggles, "You basically just told me I found a mysterious dungeon inside a mystery dungeon. That's so weird! I have to check it out!"
"Good luck getting past that massive stone door", Scyther hisses spitefully.
"Oh, I don't need luck", Dratini says with all the confidence in the world. There is a shuffling sound and a little clink. "Look, I have a magic key! You know, the shiny ones that can open any door? A travelling Kecleon sold it to me."
A short silence follows, then I hear Scyther climbing down his tree, his scythes hacking angrily into the bark. "I'm staying somewhere else today", he just spits before he walks away with slow, heavy steps.
"Oh yes, it's always good to have some variety in your life", Dratini says approvingly and I can almost hear her nodding. "Goodbye, mister!"
Another short pause. Finally, I hear Dratini's key clinking again, and the stone door of my underground prison creaks open. And for the first time in years, decades or maybe centuries, a ray of sunlight hits my pokéball.
Chapter One: The Dragon Voice
I don't know how much time has passed since I had a body. Years? Decades maybe? I've been trapped inside this horrible device, and time is meaningless here. Yet I am probably still alive, not a ghost but without corporeal form. Through the thin shell of the pokéball that caught me, I can feel that my friends are with me. They have always been with me, imprisoned in other balls, right beside mine.They're so close to me, and their presence is comforting. I wish I could reach out to them, but I have no mouth with which to talk. Sometimes the longing is overwhelming. Not just the longing to communicate, but the longing to really live again. To breathe fresh air, to see other colours than endless black, to be warmed by the sun. To fly high into the sky, wind blowing through my feathers. Maybe it all just was a dream. Everything is dull in here, even the pain, so at least I can dream.
"Excuse me?", I hear a faint voice from above and its gleeful tone surprises me, takes me off guard. I had almost forgotten how a cheerful voice sounds. My friends' pokéballs and my own are locked inside a stone chamber, and nobody knows we are trapped here, only a crumbling wall seperating us from the free creatures living their lives in the woods. Most Pokémon don't even dare to go near the unsettling sealed chamber. The forest dwellers are superstitious and fearful.And yet a lone Scyther lives right above my prison. He wasn't always here and I don't know how he really looks like, only how he looks in my imagination. But I can sometimes hear his scythes cutting into his sleeping tree as he climbs it, since he's apparently too old to fly. He also tends to mumble to himself, complaining about anything and everything. He is probably just too grumpy to believe in scary folk tales.
"What is it, snake?", Scyther's all too familiar, rough voice scoffs back at the gleeful stranger.
"I'm a tiny bit lost, Mister Scyther", the other Pokémon replies happily, apparently very unimpressed by the bug's hostility. I notice their draconic voice that sounds just a little like hissing. "Do you know where I can find a place called Pokémon Square?"
"Pokémon Square?", Scyther snorts. "You're more than 'a tiny bit lost', scaly girl. You're in the sinister woods. They're a mystery dungeon, so guess what? I can't give you any directions here."
"Wow, I've never been inside a mystery dungeon before!", the stranger says in awe. "But they're, like, ever-shifting labyrinths that defy the very laws of physics, right?" She chuckles. "Gosh, I have no idea how I even ended up here. That's so exciting!"
"Good for you?", Scyther says hesistantly, so confused about her enthusiasm that he forgets to be angry for a moment. "Well then, go looking for the next stairs, wherever they might be right now... and leave me alone."
"Oh hey, what's that?," the stranger, who probably hasn't been listening, asks.
"You mean that weathered old stone plate? Do I look like I care?"
"I dunno, maybe? I for one definitely care, it looks mysterious!"
The Scyther lets out a very exasperated sigh. "Listen, you stupid little Dratini. It's the entrance to an ancient underground chamber or something, and people say it's haunted. I'm pretty sure you should leave this place."
"One of my best friends is a ghost, I'm not afraid of them", Dratini says nonchalantly. "Plus -", she giggles, "You basically just told me I found a mysterious dungeon inside a mystery dungeon. That's so weird! I have to check it out!"
"Good luck getting past that massive stone door", Scyther hisses spitefully.
"Oh, I don't need luck", Dratini says with all the confidence in the world. There is a shuffling sound and a little clink. "Look, I have a magic key! You know, the shiny ones that can open any door? A travelling Kecleon sold it to me."
A short silence follows, then I hear Scyther climbing down his tree, his scythes hacking angrily into the bark. "I'm staying somewhere else today", he just spits before he walks away with slow, heavy steps.
"Oh yes, it's always good to have some variety in your life", Dratini says approvingly and I can almost hear her nodding. "Goodbye, mister!"
Another short pause. Finally, I hear Dratini's key clinking again, and the stone door of my underground prison creaks open. And for the first time in years, decades or maybe centuries, a ray of sunlight hits my pokéball.
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